“We wanted a better result than this in front of all our fans” – Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto

Scuderia Ferrari will not be remembering the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in a hurry, as Charles Leclerc finished sixth after spinning out of third late on and Carlos Sainz Jr retired from the race on the first-lap.

The Tifosi would’ve gone to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with high hopes, after Ferrari’s impressive start to the season, unfortunately Imola would turn out to be the team’s worst result of the season so far. Both Leclerc and Sainz were slow off the line, resulting in both losing places. Sainz’ race was quickly over though, after being spun round by Daniel Ricciardo accidently at Turn Two on the first-lap, resulting in the Spaniard’s F1-75 becoming beached in the gravel.

Leclerc managed to recover to third after his own poor start and was involved in a great battle with Sergio Pérez, until the Monegasque driver got too greedy late on at the Variante Alta Chicane. Leclerc took too much kerb after entering the chicane at a much higher speed than usual and as a result span into the barrier, breaking his front-wing. After making a late stop to replace the front-wing, the Championship leader did well to recover from the foot of the points to sixth.

Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, was understandably very disappointed with his driver’s results, especially at their home Grand Prix.

“Of course we are disappointed as we wanted a better result than this in front of all our fans. It was a difficult race. Our drivers did not get perfect starts, possibly being on the worse side of the track. Charles’ first pit stop was not the best either, which meant he was back out on track without the gap that might have allowed him to fend off Perez and then he made a mistake trying to overtake him.

“Carlos was very unlucky at the start and for the second time in a row, he was unable to finish the race. It’s a real shame, not just because of the points lost, but also because he’s completed very few kilometres in the last few Grands Prix. Nevertheless, we will not lose heart and we will continue to work calmly. We wanted to give the fans something to cheer about, as they packed out the grandstands and the fields with a sea of red to support us here at Imola.

“Naturally, we are disappointed not to have managed that, but there will be other races and opportunities to put a smile on their faces. Now we look forward to Miami and a new track, which makes it an even more compelling prospect. We will continue to work hard to extract all the potential out of the F1-75 and to optimise the updates that we will be introducing in the coming races.“